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French Expression of the Day: Œil au beurre noir

The Local France
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French Expression of the Day: Œil au beurre noir
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

We hope that our readers won't have to use this expression any time soon.

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Why do I need to know œil au beurre noir? 

Because this expression has nothing to do with cooking.

What does it mean? 

An œil au beurre noir, pronounced oi oh bur nwah, is a French term for black eye - the injury caused when you punch someone in the face.

The term comes from la sauce au beurre noir which is traditionally used in Breton cuisine. Butter is cooked in a pan until it takes a darker colour, before being mixed with vinegar and sometimes other ingredients like capers. 

The original expression used in the 16th century was œil poché au beurre noir - eye poached in black butter - which was a reference to the fact that eggs were often served with or even cooked in this sauce. The idea is that the white egg floating in a dark sauce looked like an eye surrounded by bruised skin eg a black eye.

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Use it like this

Un joueur arrive à l'entraînement avec un œil au beurre noir - A player arrives at training with a black eye

Il lui a donné un coup de poing lui causant un œil au beurre noir - He gave him a punch causing a black eye 

La femme avait les yeux au beurre noir - The woman had two black eyes

Synonyms 

A similar expression is œil en compote which literally translates as 'eye in jam'. 

Alternatively, you can use cocard, cocarde, coquard or coquillard to mean the same thing. 

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